Tidal Vision, a green chemistry company founded by a former Alaska fishing boat captain, is raising more investment to fuel growth.
A new SEC filing reveals $46.7 million in fresh cash. We reached out to the company for comment on the filing.
Tidal Vision uses an environmentally friendly, zero-waste process to turn discarded crab shells into a valuable industrial chemical called chitosan. The material is something of a wonder ingredient and can be used in water purification, to preserve produce, to promote plant growth, as a flame retardant in fabrics, and in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. It offers a safe alternative to toxic chemicals, metals, petroleum products and pesticides used in industry.
The company was a finalist in the Sustainable Innovation of the Year category at this month’s GeekWire Awards.
Tidal Vision co-founder and CEO Craig Kasberg began his career as a commercial fisherman as a teen and ultimately captained his own boat. In this work, Kasberg was troubled by the industry’s wasted byproducts. That led him to see the potential for recycling waste crab shells into a high-value product. The empty shells are otherwise sent to landfills or can be used as a fertilizer or pet food ingredient.
“We’re not only taking a problematic waste stream from the industry that I know and love and grew up in, but now we’re able to turn it into something that really does good for the world, that displaces non-biodegradable toxins and heavy metals,” Kasberg told GeekWire in a 2021 interview.
Kasberg and Chief Strategy Officer Zach Wilkinson launched their startup in Bellingham, Wash., in 2015. Last year the company acquired Clear Water Services, an Everett, Wash.-based business providing water cleaning devices and services. The company was an early customer for Tidal Vision’s cleaning chemicals.
Tidal Vision also has a production site in South Carolina and next year plans to open a new facility in Texas, The Tyee recently reported.
The startup has 186 employees and previously raised nearly $50 million, according to PitchBook.
And it appears there’s room for growth in the sector. The chitosan market was worth an estimated $3.5 billion last year, according to a January report by MarketResearch.Biz. The firm projected that the market could increase to $9.3 billion by 2033.
Tidal Vision is the leading U.S. commercial producer of chitosan, Kasberg said in 2021. In addition to crab shells, chitosan is also extracted from shrimp and lobster shells. Other U.S. manufacturers are mostly based in the Northeast. China is the biggest chitosan producer globally, but manufacturers there typically use a process that creates toxic waste, Kasberg said.
